President Trump’s announcement that the United States recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and will move the U.S. embassy there has sparked protests and clashes in the Middle East.

Christmas lights were turned off, protesters stormed the streets in the West Bank and rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip toward Israel, one landing in southern Israel.

Palestinian protesters first turned off the Christmas lights in Bethlehem Wednesday after President Trump’s announcement. The lights were on a tree outside of Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity. Bethlehem’s municipal officer Fady Ghattas said the Christmas tree “was switched off on the order of the mayor today in protest at Trump’s decision.”

On Thursday, Israeli soldiers, in response to Palestinian protests, used “riot-dispersal gear” to control the crowd in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, reported Haaretz. Hundreds of protesters gathered in Ramallah, Tul Karm and Nablus in the West Bank and watched as some burned posters of President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Also on Thursday, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh called for an uprising following Trump’s speech. “We should call for and we should work on launching an intifada in the face of the Zionist enemy,” he told the crowd in Gaza. Haniyeh called Trump’s recognition of Israel’s capital “a declaration of war,” against “the diamond in the Palestinian crown.” He added that the Palestinian people will not reconcile itself to Trump’s declaration and those who think they will “are deluding themselves.”

Thursday evening, two rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip toward Israel. One rocket landed in southern Israel. The Israeli army targeted two positions inside the Gaza Strip in response. According to Haaretz, both tank fire and aircraft were used in the response. Israel blames Hamas for launching the rockets.

Israel Defense Forces tweeted “The IDF holds Hamas responsible for the hostile activity perpetrated against Israel from the Gaza Strip.”

The IDF holds Hamas responsible for the hostile activity perpetrated against Israel from the Gaza Strip

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) December 7, 2017

Israeli officials anticipate more unrest as Palestinians have declared three “days of rage” in protest, reported The Associated Press. “We are here,” said one protester Rania Hatem. “We believe in our rights and one day it (will) become Jerusalem, the capital for the Palestinian people.” 

Pastor and author Jentezen Franklin recognizes both the political and spiritual importance of identifying the capital of Israel:

Naming the city of Jerusalem the capital of Israel is not just a political right of Israel, it is the right of all nations. It is also of great theological importance to Christians world-wide. … Please join me in praying for the peace of Jerusalem as scripture implores us to do, trusting her peace and prosperity, not to man-made institutions and international efforts, but to the God of all Peace, and to the greatest Jew to have ever lived, Jesus Christ.